One of the many "business cases" we talk about regarding disability, is that there are 11 million disabled people in the UK, all of whom are consumers at some level, and who spend up to £80 billion a year between us. It's good to see that some businesses are beginning to recognise that disabled people … Continue reading Mainstreaming disability commercially
Category: Business Cases
Todays guest blog comes from Simon Barnett who writes for Disability Sanctuary, an online community for disabled people and their carers. Here is his take on why employers should be looking to employ disabled people: For those with disabilities, entering the workplace can sometimes seem like a daunting challenge. Finding employment can be difficult and … Continue reading Guest Post: Inclusive Employers Reap the Rewards
We usually focus on issues around employment in these blogs, but of course it is just as important that our organisations are accessible to disabled customers. Emily Buchanan looks at one particular industry below: Music Concerts Are Not Access All Areas, New Study Finds A new study has shown that disabled fans are being let … Continue reading Guest blog: Excluding disabled customers
There is a lot of talk about disabled people staying in their jobs longer, thereby increasing retention and saving money on recruitment costs and all the other costs associated with a high turnover of staff. It's something I tell employers all the time. But where is the evidence? Why should you believe me? Well, you … Continue reading Business benefits of employing disabled people – retention.
This month (January 2013) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published ‘The business case for equality and diversity. A survey of the academic literature’. This report considers the evidence for the business case for equality and diversity in private sector organisations. The aim is not to make the business case, but to assess the … Continue reading The Business Case for Equality and Diversity – new survey published
I have long been a supporter of the Employers' Forum on Disability and the great work they do. They have recently changed their brand to become the Business Disability Forum. Their Recruitment Advisor, Tracey Abbott, tells us what has been happening and why it is important that businesses become Disability Smart. Why EFD became … Continue reading Guest blog: From EFD to Business Disability Forum
I read with fascination this article in the Harvard Business Review, and although it is about a company in India rather than the UK, the principles are transferable. For the full story please refer to the article, but here are the main points. Gitanjali Gems is one of the largest and fastest-growing diamond and jewellery … Continue reading Sparkling results from disabled employees!
The "Disability Etiquette" series is coming to an end, with the tenth and final part being published on Thursday of this week. I hope you have enjoyed the series and found it useful. We've had some very positive feedback, and my intention is to draw them together with some additional information and produce an e-book on the … Continue reading Sharing good practice – can you help?
Access to Work has been described as the government's best kept secret. It is a scheme which provides funding to make workplaces more accessible for disabled employees. I have used the scheme both for myself and as an employer and it really can make the difference between a disabled person being able to work or remain on benefits. … Continue reading Access to Work – a brilliant secret!
In this blog series on disability etiquette, we have already looked at the basics, terminology and physical access. Today's blog is about the less obvious, but just as important, barriers that disabled people face every day. People's attitudes. This is often called "unconscious bias" and it refers to how people view disabled people, which will … Continue reading Disability Etiquette, part 4 – Attitudinal barriers